I tried the History exam. Supposedly it's not nearly as rigorous as the real exam that Indian kids take, but at least it gives you a flavor of the difficulty. History is pretty fuzzy, of course, at least compared to math or physics or chemistry (some of the other sections on the test). I mean, with math it's fairly straightforward to ask a question like "what is the probability of having 53 sundays in a leap year". Even though you may have never heard that math question before, you'll know how to solve it if you know something about probability. With history, I don't see a way to do well unless you simply memorize every possible date or event. It basically boils down to a rote memory contest; somebody with photographic memory would do exceptionally well.

I think I understand now why I'm less than impressed with Indian schools, at least as they were presented by the movie and, now, the test. You don't need to understand anything about history other than dates. You could do well on this test even if you were completely incapable of applying lessons of history to current events, for example, or if you were unable to think outside the rote box. Assuming the math and science sections are similar (a big assumption), I'm less worried about straight head-to-head competition on real-life matters.

On the other hand, there is much to be said for the type of discipline that these schools apparently instill in students who have the patience to learn fact after fact.

The test took only took a few minutes to complete, and afterwards I received an emailed PDF summary of my results. Of 15 questions, I answered 9 correct, 2 incorrect, and 4 "no answer". It concluded that I am "Good", but gave me no other obvious way to compare myself to other test takers.

About Me

Years building software and marketing teams at Apple, Microsoft, and startups in the US, Japan, and China have given me an awareness of how little I know, but at least I try to write it down before I forget.